This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from my application COMPUTER PERIPHERALS HAVING POWER-SAVING CIRCUIT AND METHOD filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Aug. 11, 2000 and there duly assigned Serial No. 46587/2000.
1 Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power-saving apparatus and method for computer peripheral devices and, more particularly, to a power-saving apparatus and method for computer peripheral devices in computers using heaters, in which electric power consumption is minimized by cutting off all power supplies to the devices, including the heaters, regardless of the kinds of power-saving commands when a power-saving command is inputted. The devices are normally operated in a short time period by heating the heaters rapidly when a recovery command is inputted from an external source.
2 Related Art
In recent years, matters of environmental energy have emerged internationally, and diverse technologies for decreasing electric power consumption have been proposed. Accordingly, various efforts have been made to reduce electric power consumption in video display devices and laser beam printers, which are electronic appliances widely used in the context of office automation.
For example, in the area of video display devices, the display power management system (DPMS) has been proposed as an international standard by the Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA). A video display device has a normal mode and a power-saving mode according to the DPMS standard, and the power-saving mode is divided into a standby mode, a suspend mode, and an off mode.
A video display device recognizes at least two or more power-saving commands, and then performs at least two or more power-saving modes according to the DPMS standard. In the case of some dummy printers, even in the case of laser beam printers, the power-saving technique can be carried out, as known, when a power-saving command is received from a computer main body.
Typically, power management systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,489,935, 5,648,799, 5,389,952, and 5,774,116, which have at least two or more power-saving levels according to at least two or more power-saving commands.
However, as stated above, the systems disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,648,799, 5,389,952, and 5,774,116 have the problem of consuming unnecessary electric power since a rated voltage of 6.3V is supplied to a heater in order to reduce the time for recovering the normal mode from the power-saving modes, such as the standby mode and the suspend mode, even though power consumption is reduced to the maximum by cutting off all voltages supplied to devices, including the heater, in the power-saving mode such as the off mode.
The above problem is caused due to the properties of a heater which is not easily heated. The problem of the heater is somewhat solved in the heater-heating circuits disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,401 and Korean Patent Nos. 93-14719 and 96-65937.
However, the circuits disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,401 and Korean Patent Nos. 93-14719 rapidly heat the heater by supplying a voltage higher than the rated voltage to the heater for a certain time period in the initial voltage supply, so that a normal display is carried out for a short time period, without any concrete descriptions regarding how heater-heating circuits are controlled when the normal mode is recovered from the power-saving mode.
Further, the circuit disclosed in the Korean Patent No. 96-65937 rapidly heats the heater by supplying a voltage higher than the rated voltage for a predetermined time period based on the control of a microcomputer when recovering the normal mode from the power-saving mode, or when a power switch is turned on, so that a normal display is carried out for a short time period, without any concrete descriptions regarding how the heater-heating circuit is controlled when the normal mode is returned from the power-saving mode.
Furthermore, when a cathode ray tube (CRT) is employed, as in the disclosure of Korean Patent No. 96-65937, the heater undergoes much stress due to an excessive heater voltage, causing a shortening of the life span of the cathode ray tube (CRT), so that the applications have been hardly found. Particularly, there exists a problem in that the reliability of the apparatus deteriorates since the normal mode switched from the power-saving mode is more frequently carried out than the power switch-on mode is carried out.
Accordingly, in order to solve the above problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a power-saving apparatus and method for computer peripheral devices, in which all the voltage supplies to the devices, including heaters, are cut off regardless of the kinds of power-saving commands, when a power-saving command is detected, and the heater is heated at a rapid speed when a recovery command is detected in the computer peripheral devices using a heater.
Further, it is a second object of the present invention to provide a power-saving apparatus and method for computer peripheral devices, in which all voltage supplies to the devices, including heaters, are cut off regardless of the kinds of power-saving commands when a power-saving command is detected and the heaters are selectively heated at a rapid speed or a normal speed according to the kind of power-saving command when a recovery command is detected in the computer peripheral devices, using heaters.
Furthermore, it is a third object of the present invention to provide a power-saving apparatus and method for computer peripheral devices, in which all voltage supplies to the devices, including heaters, are cut off regardless of the kinds of power-saving commands when a power-saving command is detected, and the heaters are heated at a rapid speed or a normal speed by user selection regardless of the kinds of power-saving commands when a recovery command is detected in the computer peripheral devices using the heaters.
In order to achieve the above first object, a power-saving apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a control unit for detecting at least two or more power-saving commands, for outputting a first power-saving control signal regardless of the kind of power-saving command when the power-saving command is detected, and for outputting a second power-saving control signal at the same time as outputting a start control signal for a certain time period when a recovery command is detected; a power supply unit for supplying rated voltages required for peripheral devices; a power switching circuit for cutting off all the rated voltages supplied to the peripheral devices, including a heater, except for the control unit when the first power-saving control signal is inputted from the control unit, and for starting the supply of all the rated voltages cut off if the second power-saving control signal is inputted from the control unit; and a quick start circuit for supplying, to the heater, a quick start voltage higher than a rated voltage for a certain time period if a start control signal is inputted from the control unit.
In order to achieve the above first object, a power-saving method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: determining whether a power-saving command is detected; performing a power-saving mode by cutting off all voltages supplied to peripheral devices, including a heater, except for a control unit regardless of the kind of a power-saving command if the power-saving command is detected in the first step; determining whether a recovery command is detected; and recovering the normal mode by starting the supply of all the voltages cut off in the preceding step at the same time as a quick start voltage, higher than a rated voltage for a certain time period, is detected if the recovery command is detected in third step.
In order to achieve the second object as stated above, a power-saving apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a heater; a control unit for detecting at least two or more power-saving commands, for outputting a first power-saving control signal, regardless of the kind of power-saving command, when the power-saving command is detected, for outputting a second power-saving control signal, simultaneously with detection of the kind of power-saving command, when a recovery command is detected, and for outputting a start control signal for a certain time period when the power-saving command requests a quick start; a power supply unit for supplying rated voltages required for peripheral devices; a power switching circuit for cutting off all voltages supplied to the peripheral devices, including the heater but excluding the control unit, when the first power-saving control signal is inputted from the control unit, and for starting the supply of all voltages cut off when the second power-saving control signal is inputted from the control unit; and a quick start circuit for supplying, to the heater, a quick start voltage higher than a rated voltage for a certain time period when the start control signal is inputted from the control unit.
In order to achieve the second object as stated above, a power-saving method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: determining whether a power-saving command is detected; performing a power-saving mode by cutting off all voltages supplied to peripheral devices, including a heater but excluding a control unit, regardless of the kind of power-saving command when the power-saving command is detected as a result of the previous step; determining whether a recovery command is detected; detecting the kind of power-saving command when the recovery command is detected as a result of the preceding step; determining whether the power-saving command requests a normal start or a quick start; recovering the normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step when the power-saving command requests the normal start as a result of the detecting step; and recovering the normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step at the same time as supplying, to the heater, a quick start voltage higher than a rated voltage for a certain time period, when the power-saving command requests the quick start as a result of the detecting step.
In order to achieve the third object as stated above, a power-saving method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: determining whether a power-saving command is detected; performing a power-saving mode by cutting off all voltages supplied to peripheral devices, including a heater but excluding a control unit, regardless of the kind of power-saving command when the power-saving command is detected as a result of the previous step; determining whether a recovery command is detected; determining whether a start mode is selected by users when the recovery command is detected as a result of the preceding step determining whether a normal start mode or a quick start mode is selected when the start mode is selected by the users as a result of the preceding step; recovering a normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step regardless of the kind of power-saving command when the normal start mode is selected by the users as a result of the preceding step; restoring the normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step regardless of the kind of power-saving command simultaneously with supplying to the heater a quick start voltage higher than a rated voltage for a certain time period; detecting the kind of power-saving command and determining whether the power-saving command requests the normal start or the quick start when the start mode is not selected by the users as a result of the step of determining whether a start mode is selected; recovering the normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step when the power-saving command requests the normal start as a result of the detecting step; and recovering the normal mode by starting the supply of all voltages cut off in the power-saving mode performing step simultaneously with supplying to the heater the quick start voltage higher than the rated voltage for a certain time period when the power-saving command requests the quick start as a result of the detecting step.
Accordingly, power consumption is minimized by cutting off all voltages supplied to the peripheral devices, including the heater, regardless of the kind of power-saving command when the power-saving command is detected, and the computer peripheral devices are normally operated in a short time period by rapidly heating the heater when the recovery command is detected.